Global perspective of an Irish expat travel hacker with a serious case of wanderlust who has visted 60+ countries while living on 5 continents. My passion is travel. WARNING! - may contain foul language, nudity and Irish humour!

Friday, 30 May 2008

Our first few days in Guatemala were Hot! Hot! Hot! We arrived in Flores late in the day and found a hotel with A.C. (not that easy!). The journey to arrive here included some kid puking non stop in the back seat of the bus. I handed him plastic bag number 3 and he diligently filled it up! I almost forgot to tell the tale of the previous smelly bus in Belize where the smell was so bad, the bus conductor came down after the locals complained of a smell of rotten fish to spray a bleach mixture to neutralize the smell. It was only a few hours later we discovered the source of the foul stench was a beach towel of our own which had been allowed to fester a wee tad too long! - GAG!

The Tikal Mayan ruins in the middle of the jungle were spectacular but the heat was insane. I honestly don't think I've ever sweated as much. I have survived Alice Springs in Oz but this was more intense and the local guide wearing jeans and sweatshirt told us it was not that hot! Buckets of nasty B.O. juice were pouring off me! - If you wanted to get a good photo you had to scale a big pyramid so after about six of these obstacle courses, I was well shhhhtinky!

We took an overnight bus to Antigua (the old capital) which is in a beautiful setting with coloured houses and an intimidating volcano in the background. We rescued a Aussie damsel in distress (Adel) who had her purse lifted and hung out with her for a few days. Her boyfriend arrived a few days later and is a number freak (a.k.a actuary) like my own wee bro (bloody nerds are everywhere!). - Next stop Guatemala City!

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comments:

How embarrassing when the foul smell turns out to be, er, one's own! Nice of you to rescue the purseless Aussie. And I'm hopeless with too much heat - I think in those temperatures I would have just melted and trickled away!

Aye the heat is a killer-head to the western highlands for respite. keep us posted on the guatemalan city leg. Didn't see more than the bus station but it looked like a really interesting big metropolis.